Betway Fined for Advertising to Children
Sports betting brand Betway has been fined £400, 000 by the UK’s Gambling Commission, after marketing appeared on children’s webpages. The regulator uncovered the ads for the sportsbook on the site of its sponsorship partner, West Ham United. Webpages featuring Betway branding included a children’s coloring in page as well as the ‘Young Hammers at Home’ page.
Betway is West Ham United’s longest running shirt sponsor. ©Pixabay/Pexels
Social Responsibility Failures
The Gambling Commission has released details of a hefty fine it has issued to British gambling firm Betway. The sportsbook must now pay a £408,915 penalty after it was found to have marketed on webpages aimed at children. The discrepancies were found on the website of Betway’s sponsor, West Ham United.
After carrying out an investigation outside of a license review, the Gambling Commission found that Betway had failed to comply with the Commission’s advertising codes. Operators are required to ensure that all marketing is socially responsible and in line with codes of practice issued by the Committee of Advertising and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice.
Between April 14th 2020 and November 6th 2021, Betway’s logo was displayed on a webpage offering a printable teddy bear for children to color in. Clicking the betting firm’s logo sent users to Betway’s website. It also breached Commission rules when it placed a logo and a link to its website on West Ham’s ‘Young Hammers at Home’ webpage. That breach took place from October 24th 2021 until November 15th 2021.
Publishing a statement on the issue, the regulator confirmed that both instances constituted breaches of its rules. Leanne Oxley, Director of Enforcement at the Gambling Commission, commented on the case. According to Oxley:
“Although there is no suggestion that the operator was deliberately targeting children, or that children had been allowed to gamble, we take the breach of any rules aimed at protecting children extremely seriously.”
She went on to add that Betway has since taken remedial action to prevent the same failures from occurring again. The Gambling Commission is keen that all operators learn from this case and ensure that they have the correct procedures in place to prevent gambling from being advertised on webpages aimed at children.
Football Sponsorship
Betway has since responded to the Gambling Commission’s ruling, stating that it will ensure that the same breaches do not occur again. A spokesperson for the bookmaker released a statement, emphasizing Betway’s zero tolerance approach when it comes to marketing to under-18s. The statement continued:
“As one of the first betting operators to remove our branding from under-18s kit and supporter merchandise, we feel very strongly about our responsibility in this area. On this occasion, the Betway logo – owing to a technical error – appeared on a restricted section of the West Ham United website. As soon as we were made aware of this error, we took immediate action to get it removed.”
Betway added that it is committed to working closely with West Ham to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. The football club launched its new website in March 2022 and has stated that it has robust systems in place to make sure that similar technical issues do not reoccur.
Betway has been West Ham’s principal partner since 2015. Its logo features on the fronts of all the senior teams’ shirts and training wear. Over the course of their long-term partnership, both parties have worked together to offer fans memorable experiences and boost the presence of the club worldwide.
The deal has also been beneficial for Betway, elevating recognition and trust in its brand amongst football supporters. The British sportsbook is now the Hammers’ longest running shirt sponsor, having overtaken AvcoTrust, which sponsored the club between 1984 and 1989.
Betway boasts an expansive portfolio of football partners, many of which compete in Europe’s top leagues. In the UK, it sponsors Brighton and Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspurs. Further afield, sponsors include Atlético de Madrid, Toulouse FC, RC Celta, RCD Espanyol, Eintracht Frankfurt, VfB Stuttgart and many more.
Repeat Offenders
In recent months, the Gambling Commission has expressed its growing frustration at encountering the same failures at operators, with some firms repeating the same offences on multiple occasions. Betway is one such operator that has already found itself caught out by the regulator.
In March 2020, the bookmaker was made to pay £11.6 million after social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures were uncovered. An investigation found that Betway had failed seven of its highest spending customers. In one case, the operator did not carry out source of funds checks on a VIP customer who was allowed to deposit more than £8 million. That same customer lost £4 million over the course of four years.
Another of Betway’s customers was able to deposit and lose more £187,000 in just two days. The operator failed to conduct effective social responsibility interactions with the customer, who as a result was exposed to harmful levels of gambling.
Despite warnings from the Gambling Commission that repeat offenders will be subjected to more severe penalties, it appears that Betway’s operating license has not come under threat. The issue of gambling being promoted to children is one that has caused concern amongst campaigners for gambling reforms.
James Grimes, leader of the Big Step campaign to kick gambling advertising out of football, spoke of his concerns regarding Betway’s latest fine. He welcomed the Gambling Commission’s action, but questioned the relatively small size of the penalty in comparison to Betway’s profits. Many campaigners view these fines as the cost of doing business for companies like Betway.
Gambling reforms were due to be introduced this year following a long-running review of the 2005 Gambling Act. However, the review was delayed for a fourth time in July after ministers resigned from the government en masse, ultimately leading to the resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
